Sheryl Sandberg

Facebook vs. democracy

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Facebook's leaders have accumulated dynastic wealth from mining the personal information of a billion Facebook users and then selling those users to the highest bidder — even when that bidder is actively seeking to undermine democracy.

The backdrop: In the Philippines, the government uses Facebook to suppress dissent. In the U.K., Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data in violation of campaign-finance laws to affect the outcome of the Brexit vote. And in the U.S., of course, Russia's Internet Research Agency ran more than 3,500 pro-Trump Facebook ads during the 2016 election.

Driving the news: This week Facebook was the focus of an almost unprecedented international hearing in the U.K., with parliamentarians from nine different countries participating (the last similar hearing took place in 1933).

Neither COO Sheryl Sandberg nor CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended. An empty chair with Mark Zuckerberg's name in front of it faced democratically elected representatives of Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Latvia, Singapore and the U.K. — countries representing a combined population significantly greater than that of the U.S.

Sandberg, who was born in 1969, grew up in a G7-dominated world where the richest nations — U.S., U.K., Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan and France — were bastions of liberal democracy and human rights.

But when faced with criticism from George Soros, who has spent billions of dollars trying to strengthen civil society, she seemingly barely understood what he was saying. Instead, her response was based in finance: She asked her staff whether he was shorting Facebook stock.

The bottom line: Facebook, one of the biggest capitalist success stories of 21st century America, has significantly more information about its billions of users than some secret police. It also has no real democratic accountability.

P.S. ... Google, too, has found its desire for profits to be in direct conflict with the safety and privacy of its users. A bombshell report from The Intercept's Ryan Gallagher gives details on Project Dragonfly — a Chinese search engine, designed by Google, that would censor information about human rights and share with the Chinese government the cellphone number and location of anybody researching such topics. The project is reportedly strongly backed by Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Sheryl Sandberg's shifting story

Photo:Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg keeps adjusting the story she tells about controversies involving the company and billionaire George Soros, a frequent recipient of anti-Semitic attacks. Specifically at issue is her role in the company's reaction to criticism from Soros and in the company's relationship with a consulting firm that linked the social network's critics to him.

Why it matters: Sandberg’s boss, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has stood by her thus far. But the flow of new revelations about what she knew, and what she did, are further fraying the company's reputation.

Two weeks ago, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg spoke with a CBS News anchor and said she “did not know about or hire” the consulting firm, Definers Public Affairs.

Last week, she admitted that work produced by the Definers firm was part of materials that crossed her desk. So did emails mentioning the firm.

Two weeks ago, Sandberg said she respected Soros, so “I'm looking into it.”

On Thursday night,the New York Times and BuzzFeed News reported that she had directed executives to look into Soros’ potential financial motives in criticizing the company.

Facebook's response: “Mr. Soros is a prominent investor and we looked into his investments and trading activity related to Facebook,” said a Facebook spokesperson in a statement. “That research was already underway when Sheryl sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had shorted Facebook's stock.”

The spokesperson added that Sandberg never “directed research” on Freedom From Facebook, a progressive coalition advocating for the breakup of the company that was the ultimate target of the opposition research effort.

The bigger picture: Facebook and Sandberg are under intense pressure from all sides.

Earlier on Thursday, Sandberg met with activists from civil rights group Color Of Change and said the company would release an early report on a civil rights audit it is conducting.

The company hasn’t met other demands put forward by the group. Sandberg personally defended Joel Kaplan, the company’s top policy executive, against calls from the activists for him to be fired.

What they're saying: Some observers on Twitter noted that it's not unusual for corporations to look into the financial interests of prominent public critics. Others called loudly for Facebook's board to intervene.